The Sun. — London, England, 1809-01-27 00:00:00

,:, lIVIPERIAL PARLIAMENT. gObSE OF PEgRSi. . . THFRSPAY,..TAIT. gO. The records of the Courts below, respeeting some divorces, among others that of GIPPPO were, laid before the kiouse, as grounds of future pro ceediegs. THE OACIFIC OVERTURES FRQM-EitIVRTH. Lord LivEttroot:rese, pursuant to notice, to call the attention of the House, to the Proposals of Pa .cific Negetiation which .have been ramie by :the trriperor of Russia, - and the Ruler of France, to the British Government. He could not well foresee what sort of objection .could well be urged against the line of condeol pursued hy'hlS Majesty's Govern ment en that occasion. Theptinciple which they lilve down, as the uniform rule of their con (:Trt with YeSpOet to S'uch ' . Matters, they strictly :el tiered to in, the occasion now' alluded to. - They have deeMed 'it to be their duty to listen to every proposition, of peace the enemy Might seem dis posed to make .to this .country, in almost what efver shape it might be brought forward. It was, and is, at least, ,their determination, not to reject abruptly any proposition of that tentleng, , but to take ioto due, consideration whenever it should be made to them. In that 'spirit they receiVeethe pro position conjointly 'made 'from Erfurth by the'Em peror of Russia and the Ruler of Tranetii and, in des d, the grounds on which it was at first sight set forth, were ostensibl i y of a complexion to entitle I hero to that degree o ittention, whilh the principle his Majesty's Government had proposed to them selves to pursue' on the sehjeCt; prescribed for , their ohservance. Theprinciple Wah that of the utipossi , 'delis, a principle which his Majesty's: present Mini , leers Might be the less reluCtant to adMit, as by the Noble Lords opposite to him, when in his Majesty's confidence, it was not thought improper , to be en tertained. That line of cooduCt would not however be noted upoti byGoverntnent, until they previously had ascertained how tar allo4e allies of Great Britain might be included in the oegotiation. It was admit led, it is true, hy'the enemy, that the Prince of the Brazils, that'Sweden, that Sicily, should he admitted as parties to the ,negotiation. But when it was pro posed likewise to admit the Government of Spain, etting in' the, name pi' his Spanish Majesty, Ferdi nand VII. what were the 'observations made 'in reply to' that proposal by the enemy ? Were they not jesulting.• and injurious in the extreme to his Maiesty's feelings, and to the interests he had openly and in the eyes 'of the world under taken to support.. : His' Majeay was 'let indeed bound :it the time by eny'firmal treaty to the Spanish Uovertuneut ; but his Majesty had already pro r 'cleimed peace with the SpaoiSh rietien, and had une. OuivoC;Ille p unitised thena every support in his power, of arms, money, clothing, &c. in short, every sort of assistance that might enable them to frustrate the pap qlatrocions usurpation that was formed against them, antt,,which'wai truly said to have' no pantile' in the hittory cf the world. In any negotiation fig peace it was impossible;Consistently with rite tumour, - the good faith, and even the interests, or Great Itritaie, to omit the then GeVernment of . HoW the 'proposal to'include then, how ever, was received by the enemy, is now notorious, and must have excited the .indignation of every geeerous and considerate 'Mind. It was rejected on the ground that.rhose whom we proposed to include its the Negotiation ,Were Initirgeots; .that is, it was proposed to exclude from the Negotiation, under 'het odious denomination, the universal Spanish Nstien ; all of those at least who rest:, to arms' in defroce of their paternal iedepeedetice, of their cestoms, their institutions, their laws, their reli gion, of every thing, in tine, that is deer and !ell:red to Liyilized fnan., Such was the people aa nig from such motives, 'whom we were called upon sn abaedon, after the public and •• solemn pledge Which hit; Majesty had ghen to his Parliament and leis People, to afford them every assistance in so just a That such tt, proposition ..should come from the Rider Of Reece, acting on the bpdem of unprincipled ambition, by which he is known 'to' be ad tuned,' could be no matter of sur iSe. • But when 'it . appeared that a Sovereign, situated and eircurostanced as is the Emperor Russia ; a Srvei . eign, deriving his power and euthority trout a long hue of Sosereigis, and hav ing CoriseliWtly BO deep an interest' in the he eeur and copserVation legitimeteerlonarohy, had aseociaied himself its such a system, and lent . the sanfeion of ,his great name to 'so foul an usurpation, what must have beep the astonishment ' An d iegtet with winch his ,Majesty'S' Goverment must have viewed so unnatural a et - enbination. So lied 'aed fatal en ieleption on the partof that great irofentate, his Majesty's GOVCITiIIWrIt must Nye turned trete with pain and disgust. They hecessarily closed ell intercourse and attempt at pegoilal which, could not be ferthcr encouraged entertaitted withotit the most shanieful violation of ekTry ,iainciele of hoeour and of justice. On the gentee.t, therenire, of the rejection of the Spanish Government i.foin being party to the Negotiation, they reiteeoished all idea of continuing, the INep,o• tiatten ; a decision tai their part in . which he trusted every honourable mind would concur, and to which_ Ire did not forteee that any seriens ohj , :etion could be urged. Impressed • with that conviction, ho ihotild now wove, a Than en litunble:Addkess. he. -iiresented to his Majesty, hurtibly thanking his Ma it.ety - for lin gracious cZentnunieetion of the paCific ireoposals made by the enerby frotn'lirfurth, and of the gorreapotrittence enittieeted with That that iloteie contd . ' net but approve of the . grounds upon w hi c h those ptopesals wereee)tlled; and that they Wet rettly to supturt his Al.tjesty in the "vigorous o'rosecetion of the war, ;IS the only intents of arkiving at secure nedlioneurehle peace. . Lord GRENVILLE did not,oottio down with any Mteritiomof oppoing fl,c Address, such as he pt : tli.t:t it would have been moved by , his Majesty's mi t ,i,ters; but frOrn the tiAturo or the trams its 'ihielt he Haw fietittiihel•Vidret;s was worded, it impossible for him to give it him uoqualitied as- tit:Lt. — For some time hefOre . the pacific proposal WO !,„" ma de to his M ijeity'i cluveroMerit, the And prt,Jecis of the Iteli:r of Vrance could be no. Sc crrt to 'any hod been publicly and so.; c:16.1,,,,f by .14, 11:; was fad from contendr thlit t heA; projeets had the lease colour of 'right itl4llOLl to 44tittion them, He was wino . to cell- fen, that they were eharallerised by every feature of an iniquitous and atrocious usurpation. But were they matter 'of secreey Had they not been openlY avowed ? Had not Boneparte announced that he had golleeterl the mane :of Putting them into exee cation ? Wes it in the known course and charac ter of his policy to set forth the promise or the threat of execut d plan which it might be suspeft ed he had not the means of accomplishing ? Must it not, on the contrary, he the impression of every ob serving mind, that when he announced that in tention he had a moral certainty, of possessing the means of putting it into execution. lf he had that certainty, as most undoubtedly .he had, was it to bi expetted froM a nature like his, that he would lightly relinquish a design which lie was conscious lie was able to execute, and on the exe cution of which he might well conceiVe to depend the realizatien and successs of his gigantic schemed of anibition. How then could the. British Govern ment be supposed to be sincere in their' wish for. peace; when..they insisted, 'as an essential preltini nary of a Negociation, that luonaparte should re cognize the Central Junta, or the existing" legiti mate Government of Spain, and by rccogni2ing it, renounce his favourite and determined projeot of placing one of his brothers on the throne of that kingdom ? It must bare been felt that such a pro position, in the then state of things, must necessarily have put an end to the Negociation.. Why have made the immediate admisSion of .the present Go vernment of Spain into the Negociation an essential preliminery ? Might it. not be subsequently intrO duced, es a point of the Neeociation ? Why make' it an eternal bar to all negeciationi In spite of all our etforts.to defeat his projects; BuOnaparte- had bow accomplished -big designs—we had no longer- Alie means of opposing them; for, it our means, when entire, were inadetetate to that purpoSe, how could we now reasonably expect, that with broken means and broken spirits, we could still indulge the hope,of performing, what, in a better situation, we bad been unable to accomplish ? This was the material ground of hit objections to the Address as it now stood. It went to pledge the House to theetccomplisliment of that ry,llich it might never be in their powerto bring to bear. It went to holdout hopes 'to Spain, which we might never be able to realize. It went to encourage the prosecution of the war', for objet ta which we might never be able to attain. .It went ' deeper to plunge the country in difficulties, from which' it was difficult to foresee the means ofextris eating her. It went to hazard theless of that force, by Which alone our paternal safety might hereafter be secured. Upon all these grounds, he could not approve .of the Address in its present shape. Lord . Stineourn concurred heartily in the pro. posed Address, fully sensible as 'he was of the pro priety of returning to the proposition from Erfuth the only answer which, in his opinion, it deterved. Entering into an analysis of the causes in which that proposition originated . on the part of France, he re solved them into three : the hope on the part of I3Onaparte that the prospect of peace might actually wean this country and Government from the cause of Spain; the hope that the proposition itself would infuse into the Spanish mind distrust of the fidelity of Great Britain ; and the hone that Europe in ge-' netts' would by deceived into the opiniou that if the war were continued it would be attributable,-not to France but to England alone. With respect to Russia, those Councils, by whiCh that country was induced to kiln. France,' were indeed moat unfor tunate, even for Russia herself; front the mind of the Government or which it ought always to be present, that the diminution of the influence of Great Britain on the Continent, and the increase of the influence of France, 'were circumstances in the highest degree' adVerse to Russian interests. Among the motives, hoWever, such as they were, by which Russia bad been prevailed upon to take the part \viiieti she had taken against Great Britaio,. was uns questionably to be numberedler ,resentment for the condnel pursued by this country towards Denmark; an this circumstance confirmed the disapprobation which he had always fttlt and.expressed at the mea sures heath:tiled to. With . reaped to Spain, while he rejoiced that in the answer given to the Erfurth proposition, Government bad speken.out, and had, without hesitation, avowed their determination to stand by Spain. • While he exulted in this proof that had been given to the' Spaniards of British zeal and sincerity, he was by na means ready to approve of the mode in which, that declaration had been follow. ed up, or to avow his satisfaction atthe manner in which his Majesty.'s Ministers had actually aided the Spanish cause. (fin this subject, the most serious investigation was, ip his opinion, intlispeesable, and he trusted that all passible' information4ould be afforded to Pzirliameet, by whieh both l'arliament and the country might be :enabled to genie to a fair decisiop on, a fillbiCa of such unexampled nu - penance. . , Lord, MVLGRAVE observed that the Noble Vis count hail cliosee to depart from the question befOre the !louse, for the purpose of reviving an accusation against his Majesty,'a Ministers, for their conduettes wards Dent - nark.' own part,ta was tekrome. pletely cenvineed as ever, that the line' of conduct poriueti on that Qccasion was 'the only wise policy which it .was in the power of •Gre.it Britain to adopt. It had prevented the French, who, by their predo minance on the Continent, had been enabled to unite in their cause the armies of so Manicountries, to obtain the same advantage with respect to 'their navies, and had.preserved to the 1166 A fleets that ascendancy on which might safely be reposed the national security and honour. Adverting . to the set s timents expressed by a Noble Baron'oppositti•on the subject of Spain, he expressed his astonishment that such sentiments should exist in the breast of any Englishman. Since they did so exiS't,' however, he could net regret that they had . been' avowed, as it would' give this country, it would give Spaip, it would give the world the Opportunity 0 distinguish , tug hetween those who were a nt is gto direct the, energies of a great and generous penpre to the relief of the weak euti oppressed, and 'those who, wrap ping thereselves up'ie the selfish conviction of their own security, would abstain ItOut Making any effOrt in which their own itrimptiia;t: atelna:rrOw 'interests were riot threetly and intiMately inithlved, Atter listening to .the sentiments uk . the Noble Baron, be certainly thought it fortunate fot the honour of thi3 country tiet lie•and his friends had not posses:;tou ut the bultt? or the State. That Noble Baron, N:vith fueling of despondency lei: did not expect to find menifested in that liouse, had declared, 'that in t ; contea of c s paiti W - * at an cud' ani that 'Ate MAILS. Duz-7 Gottenbutgli, z Malta. PRICE OF STOCKS • Tills OA T AT TWILLV 4'cLocic. Consols . - . 67a I Omniuni . . . 3 pf. THE SUN. 4inim t4UI4 PALIUtd'AUDIAT ? LONDON, ritIDAY, JANUARY 17, 1899. GOVERNMENT this morning received official an counts from St. Deminp to the 17th o November i , They state, that an Expedition had been. sent . to drive the French out of that island, , from, Porto Rico, in which all the Spanish population had join ed. On the '2oth of Oetober General PERHAM) proceeded, with 359 French and .t. 50 Spaniards, to repel the invaders. The Spaniards turned nairtst him in the aetioni the French were cut ott, And VIERAND shot himself. The Spaniards have:driven the French into the Tots n of St. Dotnin&o,-where they blockade them. The Ftencl4 make fregtieh . :t sorties, and set fire to houses* and pkintations the Spaniards cut car ail supplies, and hope teen' to reduce the French to terms. - The island'of §A; mina, has been taken possession of by a 13ritish fiver, who ht!ds it in pledge for the Spaniards; he ha 3 allowed the French Planter; to remain on eto Island, on their taking an osth not to engage .t) hostility, and to deliter up their arras. . Some apprehensions have been expressed In a Morning Paper for the safety of the division of our Army which marched for Vigo, under the conallaud of General CRAUPURD. We are happy to state, that the whole division embarked safely at Vigo on the 17th, and that they did not meet with a single Frenchman on their march. Another Fleet of Transports has arrived at Ports mouth from Spain. The Clarinda Frigate, and some of the outward-bound East Indiamen, have put back to Spithead, having sustained some da mage. The Friends has 'arrived at Portsmouth : slit off Corunna on the, 22d inst.; the Captain states that the town was 11:C11 on fire in several places. We last night received the cville Government Gazette, of the .ifgh - instant, from which we have made some interesting ExtraCts. The Extraordinary Gazette of the preceding day contains' Dispatches frpw Don Jtilkiv. PIGNATE/.1.1,. the .Captaip 7 Generg , of 014 pastile, which mention several advantages obtained over the French. They are not ialivi dnally of great importance, but they prove that the spirit of the Spaniards is not sUbdried and the 'Spanish Troops will in these partial aaiOns ac quire that firmness and discipline which it it 3 passible that Pimps newly raised and unaccustomed to,Serviee can possess. We are happy to find that the retinal of his Majesty to treat with ALM* and Prince, unleia in conjunction with Spain, has mad° • a strong impression upon the Spanish Government; and the Government Gazette contains the strongest expressions of gratitude for this procif, as it i tertnedi of generous firmness and friendship,' As a still fur' ther •proof of the gratitude of the Supreme JO' „Don PEDRO CaVALLOS has heee appointed Ara° . '"sailor Extraordinary to the Court of London, to ex" Press NI his Majesty the gratitude of tle Spanish Government. • 'Notwithstanding the &a 7 Pr" . diaions which some persons of high rank in t biS ,country, have so tnrwiselY (not to use a strong term). thrown out resp e Cti ng t h e f u t ure fate of Spain, we are by no means inclined to Oorlai de r the glorious contest in which.. the Spanish tit!' tion is engaged, as hopeless. Those predietinlltf must necessarily give additional energy to the glut' my, and we shall be very much surprized if BtioD l '" yinrE does net endeavour to make use of them S (4 (Limp. the exertions end depress the spirits of 6 ° people of Spain. The Government of this toting,. we have every reason to believe, is determined to give every possible assistance to the Spaniards, A; long as they shall persevere in the gloiious resols' lion which they have formed to inarttialo.their in dependence. The greatest exertions are now sakig to send to the Smuts . of Spain a most ferrnidablJ tish Army—an Army, we believe, of not.less than 50 0r r 60,000 men. It is stated that the Spanish Cio' vernment have consented to admit our Troops t“ garrison Cadiz. So that with that • City and Gi b ' raltar, as points of retreat, no apprehension can be entertained for the safety of our Artny, if the 21 10 Forces should unfortunately sustain any reverses. In the mean time, orders have been issued for the inr mediate construCtion of a great number of Vesselisf a small size, but construeted in a peculiar and cats.* modious manner, for the conveyance of Cavalry snd Artillery. From these exertiona, we think there er° rational grounds to hope for the most successful results. Although the Campaign in th e M o rtis Of Spain has in some degree disappointed on f expettations, yet that Campaignhas given an adP'.. - tional proof et a most important an d its deed established it beyond all possibility o (loubt, viz. that we possess nearly the sae superiority over the French on the Land, Sl ° we ctq on the Sea; and that ichere our iroolo ar cs •qual, or nearly equal, to those of the enemy, t hd f are alreost certain of victory. It is most import° and satisfactory to know, that the French are ntra r° deeply impressed with the truth of this "fio as It is said that a letter from BlicitiA PARTS tosOt7L4' w ar in tercePtediin 'which the latter was strongly enjoin° not to engage the British unless, he possessed a consirld" - at rable superiority of numbe rs . I n d ee d, t h e con dat the French during the wholeof the camp A igg pts. l4 - 1' that they uniformly titled upon that principle , - That never would venture to - engage the British Trono upon any thing like an eqUality of numbers. Lugo 010; Sir JOHN MOORE -drew o u t his Army near Luo offered the Enemy battle, his Troops were cone' derably inferior in point of number to those of t P Enemy, but they declined' the Contest., A vi6torl at 'iliti(tittae k and' under the relative cireumstatieds f the two Armies, would have been of the Winos' ithei French General to risque a battle. Even at importance to the French but nothing could ind eed -• d mina, when a considerable portion of our ArmY ha treharked, and when Soar posessed a superiority point of numbers, of nearly three to one, cer ta inly 0 f?I, I OITtbIY rAQ r.thel 4 tvIT to one, it Waf. With 020 - 'tante of Spain was hopeless. rrom this opinion he .completely dissented. The .cause.of Spain . wits ept 1 at an encl. while Spain continued true to herself; and while Spain continued true to'herielf, - Great Britain would continue true to her. No effort would be wanting on the, part of his Majesty's Government 'to aid Spain; and notwithstanding the disasters which that country, had endured,. Ifitkitnticipation,,ef.„..l the result was by no means'of such a gloomy nature , as that of the Noble Baron. The Noble Baron had objected to the declaration made 'by his Majesty's Isilinisters, in their answer to the proposition made by rrance and Russia, that they would not enter into a negociation from which. Spain. was exOluded. If they had not done so, they would, in his opinion, ,have compromised the henour and,rli,gnity of the country.' The Noble pawn declared, that he knew of no connection which we had formed with Spain,, and that if any secret alliance had been formed at:the time when the 4rfuqh proposition was made, it ought now to be publicly produced. There was no. .such. secret connection or alliance, but them was that open connection and allianoe which ought at ways to exist between a brave' but oppressed people, seeking to tree themselves from tyranny and.Usurpa tion,• and a gallant and powerful people. ever. ready to draw the sword in the aid Of patriotism,. and in the rescue of the victims of despotic power. Lord Sinmou'ru explained.. Lord AUCKLAND took a similar gronnd to that of Lord Grenville, and dwelt.at considerable length , on the misconduct ,of his Majesty's Government, with regard to Spain. Ho-was-so far froir) coincid- , ing with the Noble Lord opposite i - in his congratu lation to the country, that his Noble friend, and those with whonr. he acted, were not in possession of the 'reins of Government,. that be firmly , believed, that if they had been in power, instead of the Noble Lord opposite, Great Britain would be placed in a . _very different situation indeed, from that to which she was now reduced. He conceived, that in the answer returned his :Majesty's Government, to the Worth propoiition, we ought to have confined our, Selves to a general statement, that in the negotiation. our allies must be included,' and that term would have admitted of further explanation. Lord SUFFOLK wished to know if British 'support were still to be afforded to SPain; in what way that support was to be given. He was surPrised that no - attempt had been made to secure Barcelona, which was a nicist important point, and one which he was confident' the Duke of Marlborough would not haVe neglected. • lord Ltvattroor. felt himself called -upon . by the sentiments expressed by the Noble . Viscount on the, cross bench (Lord Sidmouth), with respect ,to the conduct of the war in Spain, to say, ,that his Majes• ty's Goveintnent had directed the resources energips entrusted to them in the way which appear ed to them, on the most mature consideration; to be most consonant to the honour 'and interests. of Great Britain and Europe. If the Noble Viscount and the Noble Baron thotight otherwise, his Ma jesty's Ministers were perfectly prepared to meet any charge that might be brought againit then., on this subject in a direct manner, and ant in.the col, lateral way in which it had been that evening intro duced. -, Lord ENVI CfrYlphilined of the gross mis represent44,l4 which his.sentimeuts had 4p,tiergone. The Noble Baron opposiu seemed an,doas 10 Im press the public mind. with the opiinan that he was adverse to 'the • cause of Spain., Nothing could be more oppOsite to the truth ; but to the mariner in which that cause had been maintained by Govern ment, he was decidedly adverse; 'and he Would Un queStiettably have advised a plan of operations dia metrically the reverse of that which had •so unfor tunately been adopted, and which he . thought it the bounden duty of Ministers to explain.and endea vour to justify. Lord SturttouTtr, in explanation, saki, that mricli more information on .this subject was necessary be. fore a Parliamentary investigation of it could take place,, and he had no doubt that Government would voluntarily afford that information. ' The Address was then agreed to, nemine clissen• tiente, and the House adjourned. HOUSE OF COMMONS, THintspo, JAN. 26. At four o'clock the SPIIA*ER counted the Mem. hers, when,only 39 being present, the House was necessarily adjourned. TO CO,RRZSPONDB:V7*. We had mislaid the Letter of Plain Truth, which shall 6non.fin4 admission. The valuable Article on. BUONAPAR it let; Campaign in Italy we shall continua in a day or two.